Farrah O'Shea

Farrah O’Shea is a postdoctoral teaching fellow at St. Lawrence University. She joins the Music Department having recently completed her PhD in Theater and Performance Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Broadly, O’Shea’s research considers the intersection of performance with Western classical music, gender, race, and sexuality both on stage and on screen.

A dedicated educator, O’Shea’s teaching has been recognized and supported by the UCLA Collegium of University Teaching Fellows. At SLU, she teaches Listening: Ethics, Roles, and Responsibilities and Introduction to Music.

In 2021, O’Shea was co-organizer of Music Performance Studies Today and Contact: Performing Proximity, the UCLA Theater and Performance Studies Graduate Conference. She was also organizer of UCLA QGrad, a queer graduate student conference. With multiple degrees in viola performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Boston University, O’Shea brings a performer’s perspective to her research. Her teachers have included Michelle La Course, Kirsten Docter, Lynne Ramsey, among others. O’Shea has performed nationally and internationally in orchestral and chamber music festivals, including as a fellow with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas and the National Repertory Orchestra.